Shoya raised the jar of wine to his lips, swallowing the final drops of bitterness that remained. He shook the jar vigorously, but nothing else came out. In frustration, he flung the jar away, and it shattered into pieces against the ground. His head was swimming, yet it wasn't enough to wipe away the memory of that final look he saw in Yuehwa's eyes.
She hates me.
Although he knew that the dark magician had done something to remove Yuehwa's memories, a part of him was still deathly afraid. Afraid that the hatred was real.
Maybe he had been wrong from the beginning.
He should never have become the White Scorpion. Never have tried to avenge his mother and regain his birthright. Never have returned to complex, dirty world of court politics and power plays. If he had never done any of that, then maybe he would not have met Yuehwa on that ship—and she would still be leading her carefree life as the Phoenix, eating her way through all the delicacies across the kingdoms.
He was responsible for dragging her into all this, so even if she hated him and wanted to put a knife through his throat, he deserved it.
"Is that all you can do? Drown your sorrows in wine?"
Shoya didn't even turn his head. He continued staring at the dancing flickers of the open fire, and in those flames he thought he could see Yuehwa's silhouette, leaping gracefully as her deadly silks flew from her sleeves.
"You said you would bring her back, you bastard!"
Baixun yanked Shoya up to his feet, shaking the latter violently. When he was done venting, he dropped Shoya back down. Through it all, Shoya did nothing to retaliate. In fact, he didn't so much as have a reaction. All he did was stare blankly into space, like a man who had lost his soul.
"Ru Fei told me what happened," Baixun said, a little calmer this time. "They're trying to use her against us." He picked up one of the wine jars sitting by the side and tossed it into Shoya's lap. Then, he got one for himself and took a swig. "At least that means she's safe for now. They won't harm her if they intend to use her."
Shoya's lips twitched wryly. Trust Baixun to be able to keep a level head despite everything. Maybe that was why Baixun was more suitable to play the role of a king than he was.
"We've received news that the reinforcement troops have reached Muya, which means they should be able to arrive tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will be fighting the final battle for the survival of our kingdoms—and for our lives."
"Can we really win?" Shoya murmured. He turned towards the night skies. The three stars that Xin'ai had pointed out were still hanging up there, burning even more brightly than he remembered.
"I don't know, but I'm not going down without a fight," Baixun replied. "As much as I hate to say this, we need you to play a part too. I can lead an army, but that won't be enough for us to secure victory. You have to take down the dark magician. That's the only way to rescue Yuehwa... and to rescue us all." He took another sip of wine, then set the jar down. "I've asked my commander to prepare a set of Gi military uniform for you. You're too much of a target with this." He gestured at Shoya's white get-up. "Tomorrow, when the fighting starts, try to get a location on Lady Kang. I expect she'll be near the main contingent, yes? As for Yuehwa... I think we should trust her. She is stronger than either of us."
Baixun patted Shoya on the shoulder, then walked away, leaving the latter to his own thoughts.
"... we should trust her. She is stronger than either of us."
Memories of Yuehwa in her fiery red garb and boisterous behaviour cycled through Shoya's mind, fresh as if they had only happened yesterday. Baixun was right. The Yuehwa they knew was strong and highly independent. She needed no one. They were the ones who needed her.
#
But they didn't have to search very much for either Yuehwa nor Lady Kang, because when the first crack of dawn appeared across the horizon, both women appeared before them—at the head of the Dahai army.
Yuehwa was sitting atop a black steed, dressed in flowing, gauzy red robes in the Dahai style. She wore no armour, no adornments, and her long hair was left hanging past her shoulders, its soft strands blowing with the wind.
Like a phoenix. Or a dahlia in bloom.
Beside her, Lady Kang sat in a horse-drawn bronze chariot, still donning the same fur cloak that Shoya had previously seen her in. Her lips were drawn in a cruel, victorious sneer.
The Firebrands of Hwa who recognised their regent immediately broke into an uproar, astounded by what they were looking at. This was their princess, the leader of their kingdom, commanding enemy troops against their own.
Even though he already knew what to expect, Ru Fei, too, wore a deep frown on his face. He raised his hand into the air, silencing his men. Then, he turned to Baixun and Shoya, waiting for instruction.
"Dark Magician! Return the princess to us and stand down your army, and we may yet grant you leniency in death. You will not triumph today," Baixun hollered.
Lady Kang laughed, and her tinkling laughter somehow carried itself across the entire battlefield. It made the hairs on the backs of everyone's necks stand.
"Is this how you negotiate, Prince of Gi?" she scoffed. "You are not the one with bargaining power here. If anything—he is the one I am willing to bargain with." She pointed her gnarled wooden staff in Shoya's direction.
"What do you want!" Shoya growled.
"How about your life, in exchange for hers?"
Part of him wanted to rush forward immediately. What was his own life worth if he lost her? If he could indeed trade his life for hers, he would have gladly done it in a heartbeat. But he did not move, because he knew that it was only a lie. A vendetta that spanned centuries would not be so easily written off with one death.
Lady Kang—the monster that had fought against Hwang Nanzhe in the past—would not rest until that grudge was paid, and until she had gained control of all the kingdoms.
The woman laughed again.
"Still a coward, I see," she said, shaking her head. "If only she knew, do you think she would choose to sacrifice her life for you once again? I think not."
"Enough!" Baixun interrupted. "You have one last chance. Surrender, and hand over the princess, or prepare to fight to the death."
"You are very courageous, Prince of Gi, but also very foolish. If you wish to die, then I shall grant you that wish." Lady Kang turned to Yuehwa. "Princess, shall we use the blood of our enemies to appease those who have died under their swords?"
Yuehwa, who had her head bowed all this while, finally lifted her chin and looked towards Shoya and Baixun on the opposite side of the battlefield. Her gaze was cold and emotionless, as if she were staring at mere strangers.
She pulled her sword from its scabbard and raised the blade high in the air. Behind her, the Dahai army—and its undead minions—let out a deafening roar.
"For Dahai!" she yelled.
"For Dahai!" the army echoed.
#
Yuehwa did not remember if she had ever fought a war before, but she reckoned she must have, because of the way the hilt of the sword seemed to fit perfectly in the palm of her hand and the way she was able to slice through every single enemy that crossed her path with ease. Her movements were fluid, weaving in and out through the mess of clashing swords and shields on horseback as if she were galloping across an open field.
Blood splattered across her face and arms, staining her sword, but still she did not relent.
Kill them all, a voice inside her head kept repeating. Whispering. Coercing.
These were the invaders. Gi, Feng, Hwa—kingdoms who coveted her crown and her land, and who would kill her father to claim them.
Kill them all.
In front of her, a soldier dressed in the Hwa military armour put a spear through the chest of a Dahai man. Readying her sword, she charged towards the enemy, tip of her blade poised to pierce through his heart.
Clang!
Before she could hit her mark, her weapon was parried away but someone else. She turned and came face-to-face with another soldier from Hwa, who stood out from the crow with his clean-shaven head. She frowned. There was something familiar about this man, but again, her mind drew a blank.
She swung her sword again. The man dodged to his right, and her blade only managed to nick the armour at his left shoulder.
"Princess! Stop this! It's me, Ru Fei," he called out.
Ru Fei? Was she supposed to recognise that name?
They exchanged more blows.
"Your Highness, you have to wake up. She has you under her control. You are not from Dahai. You are the princess and regent of Hwa. You personally trained us—each and every Firebrand. You are our family!"
"Liar."
Lady Kang had warned her that they would try this. They would attempt to make use of her memory loss to fill her mind with lies, to turn her against her kingdom. She was Princess Naying of Dahai—every soldier and servant she had met in the Dahai camp addressed her as such.
Although Ru Fei was a man, Yuehwa was the more skilled of the two. It wasn't long before the commander of the Firebrands began to struggle to keep up with the speed of her moves. He held up his sword to block another swipe, but it forced him to stumble backwards. Yuehwa caught the opening, pointing her blade straight toward his chest.
It hit its target.
Ru Fei dropped his sword and fell to his knees, both hands clutching on to Yuehwa's blade to stop it from digging any further.
"Please, you have to remember," he pleaded.
"You should be thankful that I do not remember what you did to me." She moved one palm to the back of her hilt, thinking to push the blade through, but someone intervened, grabbing Ru Fei by his armour and shoving him away and back. The commander collapsed by the side, coughing out a mouthful of blood.
It was him—again. The man from last night.
The White Scorpion.
She hadn't managed to kill him before, but he would not escape today.
Without hesitation, Yuehwa flung out a long silk strip from within her sleeve. It wrapped itself around Shoya's right arm, and she yanked hard to pull him off balance. He lurched forward, but then he slashed through the silk with his sword and freed himself.
"Yuehwa, you're going to hurt yourself," he said.
"That's none of your business."
The White Scorpion was of much higher calibre than the previous man she had been fighting, but she was not about to bow down in defeat. She went after him with blow after killing blow, but he either blocked them or evaded them with deft twists and turns. Rage bubbled up inside her. Did he find her so insignificant that he wasn't even bothering to fight her properly?
"Shoya, focus. We don't have time. We need to get rid of Lady Kang! That's the only way to bring all this to an end!" another voice chimed in. It belonged to the prince of Gi, who was fending off attacks from several undead corpses, not far from where they were.
Although both sides were still evenly matched, the combined armies of Gi, Feng and Hwa were beginning to falter. If their reinforcements did not arrive soon, then they would soon be defeated.
Distracted by Baixun's interjection, Yuehwa didn't see Shoya sneak up behind her. He grabbed her by her sword arm and twisted it behind her back, forcing her to drop her weapon. She quickly recovered by twisting herself under his arm and then kicking him fiercely in the side.
Just as she was about to make her next move, she saw his eyes begin to wander, fervently surveying the battlefield in search of someone.
He was looking for Lady Kang.
Suddenly, he veered left and broke into a sprint, cutting a path through the hordes of Dahai soldiers. Through the gaps, Yuehwa glimpsed a hint of bronze.
Lady Kang's chariot.
She gave chase, flying through the air and using the tops of heads as stepping stones. Her silks flew out once more, but Shoya knocked them away with the hilt of his sword. He continued pushing forward, until he was mere feet away from the king's concubine.
Lady Kang did not look the least bit intimidated by the incoming attack. Instead, she still wore a wry smile on her dainty face. She held her staff in front of her, her lips moving soundlessly.
Yuehwa reached forward to grab hold of Shoya, but her fingers only caught empty air. The latter had already leapt into the air, his sword angled towards Lady Kang's heart.
Suddenly, time stopped.
The chaos and warring around her froze. Dust hung in air, spears and swords stopped in mid-strike, soldiers still like statues.
In front of her, Shoya remained suspended, the blow he had been about to deal to Lady Kang unable to reach its mark.
What's going on? she marvelled. What sort of sorcery was this, to be able to halt the passage of time?
"Princess, come over here," Lady Kang beckoned, raising one slender hand towards her.
She slowly made her way over, still keeping a wary eye on Shoya. Unlike the others, he did not seem to have his consciousness frozen, because his eyeballs were still moving wthin their sockets, his gaze fixed upon her.
"What's happening?" she asked. "Why has everyone stopped?"
"I didn't want them to interrupt our cozy gathering. After all, it has been so, so long since all three of us have been together."
Yuehwa looked at the concubine, confused.
"Look at him," Lady Kang continued, pointing the cobra's head of her staff at Shoya. "This is the man who is responsible for your suffering, in this life and the last. All he has ever done is to use you, hurt you, and rip you apart." She pulled a sword from the hands of a nearby soldier, placing its hilt in Yuehwa's palm. "Now is your chance to take back what he owes you."
Kill him, the voice in her head whispered.
She walked towards Shoya, fingers trembling around the cold hilt.
Kill him.
"Yue... Hwa..."
The words struggled to escape his lips as he fought against whatever dark force the lady had cast upon him, but she could make them out still.
"That's not my name," she murmured.
"Don't..."
She stopped in front of him, then she dropped to her knees, clutching at her head with her free hand.
"Ah!"
She could see the shadow of Lady Kang approach her from behind, and she felt the woman place a hand upon her shoulder.
"It's okay. All you need to do is plunge that blade through his heart, and it'll all be over. There will be no more pain and suffering. No more tears. No more lies."
Her voice was soothing, like a gentle wave that rushed upon sandy shores. A subtle scent of orchids wafted through the air, mingling with the harsh stench of spilled blood.
Yuehwa looked up, her gaze meeting Shoya's tear-filled one.
She stood back up and steadied her grip on the sword, raising it above head.
"Yes, kill him. Kill him!"
She swung.